Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary are confirmed as the summer hosts of This Morning after ITV bosses won a channel tug-of-war
Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary have been confirmed as the summer presenters of This Morning, after ITV bosses won a tug-of-war between the channels.
The series is said to be hoping for increased ratings thanks to the duo, after Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard took on the lead roles.
Dermot, 51, and Alison, 49, were both booked on shows for rival channels, with ITV scrambling to secure them for the summer.
There were rumors that Craig Doyle and Josie Gibson might take over the roles, but a source confirmed The sun That Friday, presenters Alison and Dermot were locked up.
“Viewers love Alison and Dermot so it was a priority to sign them up for the summer,” they said.
Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary have been confirmed as the summer presenters of This Morning after ITV bosses won a tug-of-war between the channels, it was reported on Friday (pictured in June)
The show is said to be hoping for a boost in ratings for the duo, following a decline since Cat Deeley and Ben Shepard took on the lead roles (pictured in June)
‘Josie and Craig are great, but the bosses couldn’t risk losing their best names when the show was in the spotlight.
‘We hope Ali and Dermot have a good summer so that business picks up when Cat and Ben return in September.’
Since the arrival of Cat and Ben, the morning show’s viewing figures have halved to a whopping 486,000.
Last Friday, however, the show, presented by Alison and Dermot, attracted 620,000 viewers.
Executives panicked that the couple would not be available for the summer schedule, after Alison booked two appearances: Alison Hammond’s Big Weekend and Florida Unpacked, a travel show with her son Aiden, 19.
Meanwhile, Dermot was recently announced as the host of a new game show for Dave on UKTV.
ITV told MailOnline that the summer schedule will be announced soon.
MailOnline contacted representatives for Alison and Dermot.
Dermot, 51, and Alison, 49, were both booked on programmes from rival stations, leaving ITV scrambling to secure them for the summer schedule (pictured in April)
There were rumours that Craig Doyle and Josie Gibson could take over the roles, but a source confirmed to The Sun that Friday presenters Alison and Dermot have already been confirmed (pictured in June)
‘Viewers love Alison and Dermot so signing them up for the summer was a priority,’ they said (pictured in June)
Earlier on Friday, bookmakers predicted that Dermot O’Leary would step down as presenter of the show after landing his own game show, Silence is Golden, on rival channel Dave UKTV.
His upcoming show, produced by GMB’s Richard Bacon, will see the studio audience do their best to hold back their laughter as they are entertained by a number of comedians in an effort to win a share of the £250,000 top prize.
However, betting companies suspect that now that the presenter is spreading his wings, he is likely planning to quit his duties at ITV.
After a list was drawn up of ITV presenters who have taken on other roles at the channel, betideas.com predicts that Dermot will leave the programme in 2024 with 11% of candidates.
Lee Astley, a spokesman for the betting site, said: ‘Dermot O’Leary is the latest big name from ITV to step outside his duties at the channel, with rumours circulating that his time at ITV’s This Morning is coming to an end.
‘We’re giving him odds of 11/10 if he quits the main daytime programme altogether and odds of 3/1 if he starts his own talk show. Appearances on a number of BBC programmes also seem to be a possibility.’
The bookies are predicting that Dermot O’Leary could give up his presenting duties on This Morning after launching his own game show on UKTV’s Dave called Silence is Golden
Dermot, 51, will star in his new series alongside 41-year-old comedian Katherine Ryan (pictured above)
According to the site, the presenter is rumoured to be moving to the BBC. He is likely to present The One Show, appear on Morning Live and is 3/1 to start his own talk show.
MailOnline has contacted representatives for Dermot for comment.
Dermot, who presented ITV’s X Factor between 2007 and 2018, spoke about his new presenting gig: The sun: ‘When you get a show like that, you can’t believe your luck.
“I’m looking forward to having a lot of fun.”
While producer Richard told the publication: ‘The feeling that you’re not allowed to laugh at a funeral? That’s it – the game show.’
Alison, 49, and Dermot, who present the ITV programme on Fridays and during the festive period, were ‘passed over’ for the top job in March. Cat Deeley, 47, and Ben Shephard, 49, replaced Phillip and Holly Willoughby in March.
As well as presenting For The Love Of Dogs on ITV and Bake Off on Channel 4, Alison has also signed on to present two programmes on the rival BBC.
In Alison Hammond’s Big Weekend, she spends 48 hours with some of the UK’s most beloved celebrities, entering their homes and giving fans an insight into their glamorous lives.
Dermot, who presented ITV’s X Factor between 2007 and 2018 (pictured), said: “When you get a show like this thrown into your lap, you can’t believe your luck.
Cat Deeley, 47, and Ben Shephard, 49, were given the job as main presenters of This Morning in March
As well as presenting For The Love Of Dogs on ITV and Bake Off (pictured) on Channel 4, Alison has also signed up to present two shows on the rival BBC.
There are also reports that the TV star has been approached by the BBC to present the travel programme Florida Unpacked, which would compete with This Morning on the daytime schedule.
The reason for this is that according to new reports, This Morning’s viewing figures have fallen by half.
Since presenters Cat and Ben took over, half a million viewers have stopped watching the ITV Daytime programme.
On the first day in March, the series was watched by over a million people, but two months later, the viewing figures are less than 500,000. That is a dramatic drop.